Chennai Super Kings (CSK) nearly pulled off a heroic victory against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match on Wednesday. It was the skipper MS Dhoni who remained unbeaten till the end, but needing 5 runs from the final ball to win the match, the ‘Thala’ couldn’t dispatch the ball to the boundary. The result was Rajasthan claiming a 3-run victory. However, after the match, CSK coach Stephen Fleming broke worrying news, suggesting Dhoni is nursing a knee injury.
Dhoni looked in sublime touch as he executed some of his trademark sixes, especially against spinners. Dhoni scored a whopping 32 off just 17 balls with the help of one boundary and three sixes, forming a valuable partnership with Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 25 off 15 balls.
In the final over against Sandeep Sharma, needing 21 runs off the last 6 balls, Dhoni was able to hit two sixes in the over but Sandeep bounced back to seal a 3-run win for his side.
Speaking about Dhoni, Fleming revealed that the franchise skipper is nursing a knee injury, but was still able to do some phenomenal things in the middle.
“He is nursing a knee injury, which you can see in some of his movements. It’s hindering him somewhat. His fitness has always been very professional. He comes a month before the tournament starts. He’s a great player. We have never doubts over him. He’s just amazing,” Fleming said in the press conference.
While it has been confirmed that Dhoni is carrying an injury, Fleming didn’t suggest that the knee issue could deter Dhoni from playing the upcoming games for CSK.
Chennai are also set to lose pacer Sisanda Magala for a couple of weeks, Fleming confirmed.
“Magala’s hand was split unfortunately, so he was unable to bowl those last two overs. And same with Deepak Chahar in the last game, so we’re operating on pretty thin resources. But we’re not the only team to have that.” “I think a lot of players coming out of a big domestic season are a little bit broken, but we just keep having to find solutions,” Fleming said.
“So we’ll do that in the next four days. But, yeah, it’s not ideal yet. The captain has to then think on his feet (if bowlers keep getting injured). Moeen Ali had to come back (after Magala hurt his webbing), and he hadn’t had a great day but he got the wicket of (Jos) Buttler which was good.
“And you’ve got young players like Akash (Singh) who is coming in for his first game, having to bowl some key overs. It’s not how we plan, but T20 very rarely goes to plan,” the CSK coach added.
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